


A Battered Biochemist

by Lost_at_Sea



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:01:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_at_Sea/pseuds/Lost_at_Sea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma gets bruised during a mission and hides it from the team. When Skye finds out she doesn’t take it lightly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The team all practically collapsed in the cargo hold. The mission they had just returned from had been… rough, to put it lightly. Thankfully they had all avoided the gunfire, and Fitz and Ward managed to disable the high-tech bomb, while Simmons was able to find the vials of formula for testing purposes later. But between fighting for their lives, and being chased down, they were all reasonably exhausted. Coulson left for his office after inspecting Lola, and May headed for the cockpit. Ward, nursing a bullet graze on his left arm grudgingly allowed Simmons to clean it up. 

Skye, who was sitting in the lab next to an exhausted Fitz noticed something odd about Simmons. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong with Jem, but something seemed off. Jemma patched up Ward, who sauntered off, and then started on her samples. Fitz soon grumbled about being tired and left for his pod. Skye, who had been staring at Simmons for the last few minutes noticed that Simmons was moving much more slowly around the lab. Usually her hands were nimble, and her motions were as fluid as the solutions she was examining, but now she was slow and choppy. Skye still hadn’t identified the root cause, but she was really very bored, and somehow not very tired. She turned to her desk area (she had slowly taken a small piece of the lab for herself. She liked it there.) and found no laptop. Racking her brains she remembered that she had left in her pod. 

“Hey, Simmons, I’m gonna go grab my laptop. Be right back.” Skye said. There was no response. This wasn’t unusual, Jemma was usually so in tune with her science that she drowned out the rest of the world. Skye just smiled in amusement and left to go get her laptop. 

She returned much later than she expected. She had arrived at her bunk and grabbed her laptop. Then she thought maybe her and Simmons could watch a movie, they all needed a break. So she grabbed a few blankets and pillows, and grabbed ice cream and chips. She set them out in the lounge and walked back down to the lab. 

She was preoccupied, thinking about Jemma and how odd she had been moving, that she wasn’t looking up. She wasn’t aware of her surroundings. She stepped into the lab and stopped, shocked, in her tracks. 

Jemma was leaning against the lab bench, eyes closed, tie and sweater removed, and button up shirt open exposing black lace bra. But that wasn’t what Skye was looking at. She was looking at Jemma’s ribs. Her pale skin was freckled and spotted in black and blue, and the sight caused Skye to gasp. Unfortunately the scientists’ eyes popped open, and, shocked to see Skye, she stood staring at her for a few seconds before hastily closing her shirt, and hissing in pain. Skye instantly softened and walked towards the blushing biochemist. 

“Simmons?” Skye said softly approaching with caution. 

Jemma just stared at the floor. 

“Jemma” She looked up at this. “What happened?”

Ever so gently Skye reached out and pried Jemma’s malleable hands away from her shirt, and pushed it off the scientists’ shoulders, tie falling with it. Skye put her hands on Jemma’s hips, far away from the bruising, and gently turned her so she could look at the intense bruising. The colors painting Jemma’s side made Skye’s heart hurt. 

Skye quickly looked up “How did this happen?”

“It’s not anything to worry about Skye…” Jemma deflected. Skye grabbed her wrists and forced Jemma to look at her. 

“Jem…”

“I just happened to, you know...”Jemma trailed off, broke eye-contact, and muttered "It may have happened during the mission."

“What? When-“ Jemma looked up at Skye who swore and stepped back. She knew when Jemma had gotten this. 

Ward and Fitz had gone one way, and Jemma and Skye had gone the other. Skye was to escort Jemma to the lab in the basement, and Coulson and May were to keep the henchmen away from the basement area where both teams were working. Something had gone wrong and Skye had heard men coming down the hallway. She unholstered the gun and (correctly) released the safety telling Jem to stay quite, before heading to the hallway.

She had walked out and swiftly taken out the men but there were more coming. It was a good twenty minutes before she returned to Jemma, and she noticed the scientist was very flustered. She was confused until she saw the henchmen on the ground, nocked out cold. She stood in surprise before Jemma explained that she knew a lot about pressure points. Time was of the essence so Skye hadn’t asked more and they had completed their job and left. 

“Jemma..” Skye said pitifully. 

“Skye, I know what you’re thinking, but it was in no way your fault. You went to the hallway to protect me and—“

“And I failed!”

"No, you did not! I’m alive.”

“Yea but…” Skye trailed off reaching out to brush her hand against Simmons’ bruised side. Jemma inhaled slightly.

Skye still looked depressed. Jemma wrapped her arms around Skye’s hips bringing her closer for a hug, careful not to press her bruised side against Skye. “I’m find Skye, I promise.”

Skye’s eyes were watering. And Jemma couldn’t take the look, this wasn’t Skye’s fault. Why was she beating herself up so much. 

“Skye…. I’m not angry with you.”

“I know, you’re too nice to be mad at me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not mad at me.” Skye’s words were muffled by Jemma’s shoulder. 

“Why would you be mad at you?” Jemma asked, pulling back so Skye was forced to remove her head from Jemma’s shoulder. 

“Because I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” Skye said looking into Jemma’s eyes with admiration. Jemma smiled slightly and used one hand to wipe away the tears on Skye’s face. 

“Well I have survived an alien virus, jumping off a plane, four broken bones, a concussion and two gunshot wounds. I can handle a little bruising.”

“I know” Skye sighed. “But I just wanted to be the one to make sure you were as safe as possible.”

“And you did. You saved me from that bullet not ten minutes after we left the lab.” Jemma placed her hand on Skye’s chin and forced the other girl to look at her. “You’re just as much my hero today as you were yesterday, if not more.”

Skye’s eyes finally lit up with a grin, and, taking a leap of faith, Skye reached up and tangled her hand in Jemma’s beautiful hair before kissing her beautiful biochemist. 

They pulled back grinning a few seconds before Skye’s eyes darkened. “Wait…. two gunshot wounds.” Jemma groaned and pulled the hacker back in, effectively distracting her, at least for the moment.


	2. Four Broken Bones, A Concussion and Two Gunshot Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this was requested and here it goes. Read Battered first. 
> 
> tumblr AO3 
> 
> “Well I have survived an alien virus, jumping off a plane, four broken bones, a concussion and two gunshot wounds. I can handle a little bruising."
> 
> This is the story of the four broken bones, the concussion and the two gunshot wounds. We all know about the alien virus and jumping off a plane.

The first time she broke a bone on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Team was a minor affair. She had been tied up to a pole in the basement of a Centipede facility. There was a strange green liquid quickly filling the room and, thinking back to May's trick of dislocating her wrist to get out, Jemma took a deep breath and bent her neck so get her tie in her mouth before she dislocated her left wrist. She managed to stay quiet, untie herself, and pop her wrist back into place. It hurt like a sun of gun, but unfortunately Simmons wasn't in the clear. She was almost out of the building when a guard came after her, grabbing her aching left arm, he tripped over the door jam and quickly pulled the small scientist down with him. For the second time that day Jemma felt a horrible pain in her left arm, but this time it was a crack she heard instead of a pop. She blacked out instantly. 

She was lucky to be alive, really. As it happened Ward and Skye were looking for her. Ward had gone down to the basement, and Skye was patrolling the camera footage. When she found Jemma she released her safety (after a few seconds) and ran in that direction. She came to the hallway right as Jemma passed out and easily took the henchman, who was leering at the scientist, out with a shot to the shin, even if she was aiming for his knee. She ran up to Simmons and just about threw up at the sight of her arm, bent at the wrong angle.

The doctor said she had broken her arm in two places. Phil had given her the 'don't do this stuff, take care of yourself, don't endanger the mission.' and Jemma had felt just as bad as she had when she jumped off the plane. Fitz was building some special mechanism for her cast, that would have a watch face, and a bunch of other things attached. Skye spent a lot of time with Jemma, whenever Jem had to do a science thing Skye was right at her side assisting her in the limited ways that she could. Her cast came off in two months thanks to some special serum complements of S.H.I.E.L.D.  
The second broken bone was a little worse. This time Jem had been kidnapped. She had found a neutralizer for the new scale like skin that Centipede Users grew. Centipede had found out and they took her before the team could blink. The whole team went into a frenzy. Even the normally level headed Ward was slightly rash. They practically started a world-wide man hunt before they found her. When they came to the rescue Ward and Coulson stood guard as May and Skye went in the holding cell to find Simmons unconscious on the floor. The one guard who was left occupied May's attention as Skye ran to Jemma. The second she touched the scientist her eyes shot open and her arms came up over her face. Tears came to Skye's eyes as she placed a gentle hand on Simmons' arm and whispered.  
"Hey, hey, it's just me."  
Jemma's eyes opened and she sat up sobbing into Skye's shoulder. After they got her out, careful of her shattered patella, May and Skye made a silent agreement to never mention Jemma's tears. It took a long time for Jemma's knee to be fixed, and even longer for her to rid herself of the nightmares and jumpiness. It helped on the nights when Skye would stay with her, but that was another thing they vowed not to speak about. 

 

The concussion came next. She had been working in the lab, the third day after her cast was off, and Fitz had come into the lab scaring her. She wiped her head up and slammed it against the large digital microscope. She fell back and hit her head against the opposite lab table. Fitz ran towards her. He checked her eyes and found them severely dilated. He swore slightly and brought her to Coulson. They landed and the next doctor informed them that she had a minor concussion. She was not allowed in the lab at all, due to it's unforgiving light. For the next month Simmons sulked in her pod all day unless there was a mission, then she sulked at the control panel. It wasn't until Skye started spending her days in Simmons' pod playing card games, watching movies and talking that the life in Jemma's eyes returned. 

Her next injury was almost six months later. They were on a mission, Jemma and Fitz had to disable a bomb attached to a mutant, and Ward and May were they're guards. Skye was hacking from the outside. Only a total of three bullets were used that day, one found the owner of the facility, one from his sidekick into the air which found a soft malleable mark, and one to the gas tank of the building. Somehow the team got out of the fire, but it was a few seconds before they noticed the slowly growing red mark on Simmons' shirt. It started right below her rib on the left side, where the bullet had entered her abdomen. She collapsed into Ward's waiting arms and they life-flighted her to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Hospital. Thankfully the bullet didn't hit anything important, and it only took a month for Jemma to be up on her feet. 

 

It was late one night that Skye found Simmons in the lounge. Near 3 am actually. Simmons was standing over the sink in the kitchen holding her side in pain. 

"Simmons?"

"Oh! Hello Skye" She put on a fake smile and removed her hand from her side. 

"How are you?"

..."Truthfully, a little beat up. I've had some bad luck this last year."

"I'd say you've had some good luck this last year."

"How's that?"

"You're still alive right?"

Simmons thought in silence. Skye grabbed a glass from the cupboard behind Jemma and filled it with water. She moved around Simmons in the small kitchen. She stopped a few seconds later face to face with the scientist about a foot away. 

"Well, I was just grabbing some water, try to get some sleep Simmons, we'll need you back as soon as possible." Skye brushed her fingers against the bandages on Jemma's side, visible through the light t-shirt she wore. Jemma's sharp inhale was not entirely due to pain. 

 

The next broken bone was her nose. She and Skye were goofing off in the cargo bay, playing catch with an old baseball they had found. They were stopped in Fiji, but not allowed to leave the Bus so they opened the cargo hatch and looked out at the beautiful sunset. Simmons was distracted by the way the low light reflected off of Skye's hair and shined in her eyes and next thing she knew the ball had collided with her nose and blood was dripping down her face. 

Skye immediately ran over in a panic. Jemma just laughed it off and headed towards the lab, using one hand to slow the flow of blood, and using the other to drag a babbling Skye behind her.

She got to the lab, cleaned the blood off her face, and held tissue to it waiting for it to stop gushing. She tried to avoid wincing since every time she did Skye would erupt in a new wave of apologies. When the flow finally stopped, Simmons looked in the glass of the labs' walls and realigned her nose with a snap and a small painful moan. She then turned around to see Skye, puppy dog eyes in full bloom opening her mouth to start another apology. Jemma held up her hand and Skye kept her mouth open, but no sound came out. Jemma burst out laughing. Skye, utterly confused, waited until the laughter subsided to ask.

"What's so funny?"

"You!"

"Hey!"

"No, I mean, I love how concerned you are, it was just my nose. I re-aligned it. And anyway, it makes me look more rugged doesn't it?"

Skye didn't find this funny.

"Skye, breaking my nose is nothing compared to what anyone on this team, in all of S.H.I.E.L.D. faces in the field everyday. There's nothing to worry about. Alright?"

Skye nodded and Simmons grabbed her hand again. They walked to the cargo load, and sat and watched the sunset. By the time the sky was just barely dusted with pink, and the stars were twinkling Jemma had cuddled into Skye's side and put her head on the hacker's shoulder. Skye, after looking down, found that the stars looked much better reflected in Jemma's eyes. 

 

The fourth broken bone was her left pinky. It wasn't that good of a story really, she had broken it when they had gone over some turbulence and it got slammed between a wall and a cupboard. The funny part was that Fitz had passed out after seeing the oddly bent digit, and Ward had had to carry him to his bunk. 

 

The second gunshot was about four months before the bruising incident. They were on a mission and Simmons was alone in the van. She wasn't really needed in side. Ward, May and Skye had it covered with the protection, and Fitz was dismantling some tech thingy. She was just supposed to drive the van and be the doctor. But when she saw Skye run out of the building a hundred feet behind the others with two gunmen on her tail she had sped over to the others, and parked the van before jumping out and pulling the limping girl behind a trashcan. They lost the gunmen and gave Ward enough time to take them out. But before Jemma had disappeared behind the trashcan a bullet had lodged itself in her left bicep four inches above her elbow. Her scream was muffled by the gunshots, and Skye had taken main priority with a sprained ankle and a gunshot graze on her shoulder blade. Jemma had managed to get them both to the bus and shed her jacket in the back before hastily bandaging the wound and wrapping herself in a new jacket so no one would notice. 

She got through the drive with a bullet in her arm, and after setting Skye's leg she removed the bullet herself and used a new bandage she had been designing to wrap her arm. The bandage was almost imperceptible underneath a button down, a sweater and a blazer. No one, including Coulson knew until late one night when Jemma couldn't sleep. She was sitting on the couch in the lounge when May came in. She was just heading to bed from the cockpit. Jemma, who was certain everyone was in bed, as she had checked all but May, who she was much too scared of's pods, was sitting on the couch in nothing but a pair of plaid pajama shorts and a dark blue tank top. The bandage on her left arm was stained with blood from the day and was more cream then white by now. May cleared her throat and Jemma quickly threw a blanket over herself, but it was too late. May walked to the couch and moved the blanket inspecting the bandage before placing the blanket back around the young scientist and going to her pod. 

Jemma was certain Coulson and the team would find out but May never told anyone, but she did make sure to protect Jemma a little more next time they went into the field. And, although Jemma didn't know, she had dropped a hint in the way that only May can that put the idea of protecting Simmons in Skye's mind without mentioning any names.


End file.
